PAP. PHILENOR. Alis dentatis nigris, posticis caudatis virescenti-nitidis
maculis albis, subtus maculis fulvis albo notatis serieque digestis.
(Expans. Alar. unc. 3¾).
SYN. PAP. PHILENOR, _Linn. Mant._ (1771). 6. 535. _Fabr. Syst. Ent._ _p._
445. _No._ 12. _Smith and Abbot_, _Ins. Georgia_, _Vol._ 1. _tab._ 3.
_Encycl. Méth._ 9. 40. _Boisduval_, _Hist. Nat. Lepid._ 1. _p._ 324.
_No._ 167. _Boisd. et Leconte_, _Icon. Lep. Amer. Sept._ _pl._ 11. _f._
1-4. _Say_, _American Ent. Vol._ 1. _pl._ 1.
Pap. Astinous. _Drury_, _App. Vol._ 2. (1773). _Cramer_, 208. A. B.
HABITAT: North America, from New York to Georgia.
{21}_Upper Side._ Head and neck black, with two small white spots between
the antennæ at their base, and eight more on the head and neck. Thorax
black. Abdomen of a glossy hue. Anterior wings black, with a very glossy
greenish tinge at the anterior angle, with eight small, white, narrow
crescents on the external margin of each, which make them appear as if
dentated. Posterior wings of a dark glossy green, with two tails issuing
from them. The concave part of each scollop is edged with white; and six
whitish spots run along their edges, meeting below the extremity of the
body.
_Under Side._ Breast, legs, and abdomen black; the sides spotted with
cream-coloured spots, one of which appears on the inferior wings, on each
side the breast. Anterior wings, next the tips, are of the colour of
soot; but next the body, black, with five whitish spots on the external
margin, near the interior angle. The upper part of the posterior wings,
next the body, are soot-coloured; the remaining parts of them being of a
glossy blue, with seven dark orange spots, placed in a circular manner, a
little distance from the edge, and meeting at the extremity of the body:
each spot is encircled with black, except in that part where a small
silver mark appears on its edge, being represented in the plate by white.
The scollops are deeper edged on this side with white than on the upper.
This butterfly is one of the most beautiful, and, at the same time, most
common of the North American species; abounding wherever the Aristolochia
serpentaria grows, the larva feeding upon that plant. It is described by
Boisduval and Abbot, and is brown, with four rows of small fulvous
tubercles, and a row of brown spines near the legs; moreover, it has two
long spines directed forwards upon the first segment, three upon the
penultimate, and two upon the tenth segment. The neck is also furnished
with a furcate retractile reddish tentacle; the chrysalis is of a violet
grey, or reddish colour, with two yellow spots, the head being truncate.
The female is larger, with brown-coloured wings, with cupreous reflections.
The insect assumes the chrysalis state on the 26th of April, and the fly
appears on the 4th of May. Another, observed by Abbot, went into chrysalis
on the 21st of June, and the butterfly came out on the 5th July. The latter
delights to frequent the blossoms of the peach and other trees in the
spring.